Key Findings Details

The Joint Labor Supply Decision of Married Couples and the Social Security Pension SystemShinichi Nishiyama
WP 2010-229

An overlapping-generations model consisting of heterogeneous married couples predicts that removing spousal and survivors benefits from the current OASI program would increase female market work hours by 4.3–4.9 percent and total output by 1.1–1.5 percent.

If the increased tax revenue due to higher economic activity after the policy change was redistributed in a lump-sum manner, a phased-in cohort-by-cohort removal of spousal and survivors benefits would make all current and future age cohorts on average better off.